Reclaiming bank charges from a closed account

What are my options? Can I just write to the bank manager using one of these numerous templates that are cropping up now, or is it too late?

I believe you can claim up to 6 years after. One person i saw got back nearly 5000. I think the term is unlawfull rather than illegal reading notes about this elsewhere. At least now youve moved you cant have your account closed which seems to be tactics that at least one bank is trying.

Hi Keilan, I personaly have been crippled by the bank charges, and i agree, it's stupid the ammount they charge you. In my case i used to get paid 4 weekly, my money never got put into my account on a set date (say the

1st of the month for example) and yes, because of the way i was paid i did miss some pay dates and the bank charged me for that, but what they didn't tell me was that they put through the DD again a few days later, which was either A) paid or B) unpaid and if it was unpaid the second time, again, they charged me, something silly like £30 a shot. I missed a number of the "1st" payment dates because of the way i was paid and because i was made unaware of the fact they put through the Direct Debt again at a later date, i got into debt with them. Lucky enough they never put a CCJ against me, but now because of the charges my bank account now has a temp "OverDraft" on it. I think you should read up more on this subject as mentioned by another member someone managed to get back £5000, there has been a number of cases like thgis happen but the banks keep it quiet, just think how many other people have fallen victim to bank charges? it would hurt alot of banks if everyone filed against them.

One thing todo is ALWAYS read the small print, i know you have probably been told this a million times before but it really does benifit you. Also go and read the Banking Act's and Gov legislation on banks, find out as much info as you can. I can understand your frustration but going in there like a bull in a china shop gets you no where, remember knowledge is power so go and read up, even if it takes you a week to find something that will help you. That little bit of text will be your fire power and get back what's rightly yours.

Good luck

Sin

Further note: Have a look here as its a comsumer support action group that gives loads of advice and has cases for each bank.

Yes, no. 6 years is the limit under the statute of limitations.

The DPA request will get you all the info. even if you have forgotten the account number.

Daytona

Thanks for everyones responses, that website looks very handy indeed, about to get some letters off today!

Regards, Keilan

Dayt> On 12 Jun 2006 04:00:38 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote: >

Did we tell you about the "share scheme"? You pay each of the people who answered 30% of what you get. Of course if your late paying there will be penalty charges, interest and court costs. And then we close your account. lol

Yes, the Office of Fair Trading has published guidelines to the courts that fines should be related to the cost incurred by the bank rather than a deterrent or a penalty -

'As a provisional step to speed compliance, the OFT has decided that it is appropriate to give priority to addressing default charges which exceed a threshold of £12. This is less than half the figure charged by many credit card issuers at the moment. The OFT's presumption will be that credit card default charges that are in excess of £12 are unfair, unless there are limited, exceptional factors in play, for example where a card issuer has a policy of requiring customers to pay minimum monthly repayments by direct debits, such as that operated by Egg, and offers credit cards only to customers that satisfy a relatively high scoring requirement.'

It is only guidance, so allows room for a judges discretion, but given the amount of case law established it seems cut and dried.

Great site but I couldn't see a step by step guide. There's one here

Daytona

Be warned. A lot of banks are getting an awful lot of letters asking for bank charges to be credited back as being 'unlawful' thanks to sites such as

However, they may initially dismiss your claim through a letter. Your only option then is to take them to the small claims court.

But, more and more banks are now closing accounts of those that go through the courts. In a few cases, they place some sort of marker on your credit history and there have been reports of inter-bank communications stopping accounts being opened at linked banks. So far, the banks I have heard about that are doing this are the Alliance and Lester, Abbey and HFBC.

I went down the small claims option, but then got the letter from the Abbey saying that if I progressed with the court action, "The relationship between us would have broken down and therefore the Abbey would reserve the right to formally end the relationship by closure of all accounts" (from my letter).

For the sake of a couple of hundred, it was not worth having to switch all my accounts, which I assumed would also be my mortgage. As I say, take a look at the 'bank charges' area of

before you start down this road. It was also covered very well on the Radio4 Moneybox show.

crossposted to uk.legal

Good info. thanks Jaffa !

I can't help thinking that this is a provocative escalation on the part of the banks. The length of time that someone holds a bank account is an important part of the credit scoring process. In case the OFT or the courts decide that canceling the contract and closing accounts down for this reason is unfair and or illegal it might be worth getting a credit score before and after challenging the charges, so that any damage to your credit history can be quantified and appropriate damages awarded.

Daytona

In message , Daytona writes

I'm struggling to think of what they could possibly put on your credit record that would be accurate and would negatively affect the file in these cases.

The length of time the account has been open for forms part of the credit score in many cases. The fact that the account has been closed, and a new one opened elsewhere would be perfectly true, and may affect your credit score.

I don't know if this is true for all banks, but I've held a current account with three high street banks, and have never seen any reference to these accounts on my credit files, even when I've had an overdraft.

(followups set to uk.finance only)

- Ian

Umm, why shouldn't the bank record that you sued them over charges?

I believe it to have been previously quite rare that banks report their own customer's accounts to credit reference agencies at all unless they are in some way defaulted. Many banks don't even credit score their basic bank accounts as they are not an application for credit so it simply wouldn't show up at all.

(Whilst I am attaching this to Jonathan's post I am replying to the thread in general.)

There seems to be some confusion with 'credit score' and 'credit file'.

When deciding whether to lend dosh to a client, lenders usually calculate a credit score. This is compiled in part from the info you put on the app form (which often asks 'how long have you had a bank account',), in part from info contained on your credit agency file, in part from what the lender already knows about you, and possibly info it may get from elsewhere.

Therefore, in answer to Mike_B, your 'credit file' wouldnt show the info at all, but your credit score would be affected.

What evidence do you have of this ? Alliance & Leicester do.

Of course not, that's the whole point of them. But basic bank accounts make up only a tiny proportion of bank/BS accounts.

Daytona

In message , Daytona writes

Common knowledge and my personal experience.

So what. A&L are a tiny outfit when compared with the main clearers and their action is not significant of the whole.

Mike_B is correct in so far as the traditional clearing banks have only just started contributing data on Current Accounts. e.g. HSBC and RBS have only just started doing so in the last 12 months.

The b/socs and ex b/socs have contributed their mortgage data for many years and those that offer current accounts with credit started contributing that data a number of years ago.

I'm pretty sure my credit file does say when I opened my bank accounts. I may be wrong though.

In message , Daytona writes

I said previously quite rare. Some banks have recently started to report white data. Evidence? Well, a recent meeting with a representative of Experian who told me that only recently have banks been reporting positive information on their own customers is good enough for me. Coupled with the fact that my own banking details have never appeared on my credit file.